Chapter 339

If he wanted to go to the wooden house, he had to prepare the stove and bring some essential daily necessities. Of course, since he was going, he had to bring his gun. Participating in militia training was also his hope to get more bullets for hunting. In winter, Halimu and the others could provide more clues about prey, so he could hunt more things.

Otherwise, how boring winter would be.

Of course, goat-snatching and horse racing were also very interesting, and he could participate.

In his previous life, he wasn't interested in goat-snatching and horse racing, and could even say he hated them a bit.

Because in one year of his previous life, Li Juan was in junior high school. At that time, Li Jianguo had already had an accident. One day it was raining, and on the way to school, Li Juan was hit by one of a group of ethnic people racing horses. Li Long didn't know the specific details, only that there was a large gash on Li Juan's forehead, the rain kept washing it, and Li Juan was knocked unconscious.

By the time Li Long knew about this, Li Juan had already been sent to the township health center, bandaged up, and sent back.

Those people riding horses had long since run off to who knows where. He only heard from students that when Li Juan was hit, they were heading from west to east, and not long after, they returned to the east while snatching the goat.

Even if Li Long had no human touch, he was furious at this time. He searched for several kilometers to the east, but ultimately didn't find the settlement of those herdsmen.

This matter was also a thorn in his heart.

However, having lived two lives, Li Long also knew that such things depend on the person; there are good and bad people in every ethnic group, and he couldn't vent his anger on others because of this, so he wouldn't look at Halimu and the others through colored glasses because of this.

But he would definitely pay attention to this matter later—that was in 1984.

Still early.

If it were just in the no-man's-land, horse racing and goat-snatching were actually quite attractive. The Kazakhs are a people on horseback; children have to ride horses when they are two or three years old, and when they are older, they can ride horses alone to herd sheep. In this long winter, there aren't many entertainment activities they can participate in.

Now there was an extra radio, but for them, listening to the radio quietly wasn't necessarily as exciting as horse racing.

After finishing the hand-grabbed mutton and agreeing to come into the mountains when the time came, Li Long drove Number 76 back—this time there were more things on his horse cart.

Mainly frozen meat and a few pelts—the last time they sent the collected specialties to Halimu, some people hunted during the period, such as wolf meat, which some people didn't like to eat, and some felt it was a bit difficult to ask Li Long to provide radios, so they brought deer meat and deer pelts they had hunted.

Before Li Long entered the mountains, they also needed to go down the mountain to exchange things after moving.

Basic grain usually wasn't exchanged for much—after all, it was the era of the Great Collective, and grain production itself wasn't high, so there wasn't much ration left for each family. To buy grain at the grain store, you needed grain coupons, not to mention other coupons.

Plus, in winter, what could be exchanged when going down the mountain was basically very little. Only when selling cattle and sheep could they get some coupons from the supply and marketing cooperative or the people buying sheep to use for living.

Now that Li Long had come, it brought great convenience to these people—within the scope of materials they could think of, Li Long could exchange for them, and things they hadn't thought of or even seen, Li Long could also exchange for them.

So there was the matter of relying on Li Long; after all, they only needed to hand over the things they got to Li Long, and the rest was waiting, waiting for Li Long to send the things over.

And every time Li Long sent things over, he never disappointed them.

On the cart were a wolf and a deer, plus three pelts. The pelt quality in winter is very good, and of course, they were all frozen stiff.

Li Long sat on the horse cart, letting Number 76 walk back. He felt a bit sleepy—mainly because he was too full, and the lack of blood in his brain made him feel a bit dizzy.

The sunlight on the snow was quite dazzling, and Li Long didn't want to open his eyes. He occasionally glanced at the road, then continued to close his eyes and doze off, leaning on the pelts on the frozen meat.

When they were still more than a kilometer away from Qingshuihe, he suddenly felt Number 76 stop abruptly. Li Long's body lunged forward, and he hurriedly grabbed the cart frame to steady himself. When he opened his eyes and pulled the reins, he saw a group of seven or eight white-tailed fellows kicking up a flurry of snowflakes and darting toward the distance.

In a moment, they disappeared into the snow-covered shrubs.

Mongolian gazelles!

By the time Li Long reacted and reached for his gun, he couldn't even see the white rumps of those gazelles.

Are Mongolian gazelles this arrogant now?

Li Long felt a bit regretful; if he had stayed awake, seeing the gazelles coming, he could have at least left one behind.

He decided that if he came to stay here for a while later, he must come here to take a look and hunt a few gazelles.

The taste of gazelle meat isn't as good as the mutton he just ate, but after all, this thing is a type of antelope, so the effect of the horns still needs to be noted.

Li Long suddenly realized that in a few years, once a certain law is passed, some things on wild animals won't be usable later on.

So can he hoard some now, at least keep some for backup later?

Such as rhinoceros horns, scales, and the like.

Maxian and Shicheng might not have them, but going to a traditional Chinese medicine shop in Wucheng might get him some.

If that doesn't work, getting some from the old man inside the pass will also work. Including tiger bones and the like. You can still buy this stuff with money now; in a few years, it will basically have nothing to do with ordinary people.

By the time Li Long came to his senses, Number 76 had already pulled the horse cart to Qingshuihe. The road ahead was easier to travel, but Li Long didn't doze off anymore and returned to the large courtyard all the way. It was already past four o'clock, and Gu Xiaoxia had already gone to work. Li Long unloaded the frozen meat; this time he didn't take the pelts to sell, but put them into the room. When money isn't very scarce now, keeping some things is also good; they will inevitably appreciate in value later.

Although there had been a period of soaring prices and money becoming worthless, that was still early, and Li Long believed that by then, even if he hadn't achieved financial freedom, he would be close.

He planned to take a cart of fish to Shicheng tomorrow to try the market there. Regardless of whether it works or not, he would continue to pull fish to the large courtyard when he returned; he figured he wouldn't be able to pull for many days, as militia training would start soon.

His second brother Li Anguo and the others definitely wouldn't participate in the militia training. Letting them stay in the village with nothing to do would be worse than just driving the horse cart to Shicheng to sell fish; they could find something to do and earn money.

Li Long calculated while unloading the horse cart. After leading Number 76 to the back and tying it up, he turned back, found a stool to prop up the horse cart, and started loading fish onto the cart.

Because he was going to sell fish alone, Li Long didn't dare load too much—ten bags of fish, five or six hundred kilograms, just to test the waters.

With the fish loaded, Li Long took the 56-semi-automatic rifle into the room to start maintenance. He would have to use this gun well when he went into the mountains later, so it needed good maintenance now.

Not long after, Gu Xiaoxia returned. She was also carrying an aluminum lunch box. At the entrance, Gu Xiaoxia saw that the gate wasn't locked, so she knew Li Long had returned. She pushed the door, pushed the bicycle in, turned to close the door, parked the bicycle, and went to the kitchen.

She lifted the stove lid, poked open the crushed coal that was pressing down, poured some coal chunks into the stove, set the pot, poured water into it, opened the lower stove door, and the fire in the stove immediately flared up.

She placed the steamer rack on the pot, then took an enamel small basin from the shelf, poured the rice and vegetables from the rectangular aluminum lunch box into the enamel basin, used chopsticks to pick up every grain of rice stuck in the lunch box, then covered the pot lid, and went to wash the lunch box.

!.

Hearing the movement, Li Long put down the gun, wiped his hands, and came out of the door. Seeing Gu Xiaoxia washing her hands in the kitchen, he asked with a smile:

"What are you doing?"

"Rice brought for you from Sister Yang's place, stir-fried potato shreds; I thought you would want to eat it."

"Heating it up?" Li Long wasn't actually very hungry; that mutton was very filling, but since Gu Xiaoxia brought it, he naturally had to eat it.

"Hmm, it will be ready in a moment. You go do your work; I'll call you when it's ready."

"Good." Li Long replied; he hadn't finished cleaning the gun yet.

Ten minutes later, Li Long came out to wash his hands and started eating.

Gu Xiaoxia rested her chin on her hands and just watched him eat heartily, her eyes full of happiness.

The next day, Li Long got up early. Gu Xiaoxia had already prepared breakfast—she had known the day before that Li Long was going to Shicheng to sell fish today, so she got up early this morning to make pancakes and stir-fry vegetables, letting Li Long eat a hot meal.

Actually, Li Long had originally thought about going directly to the cafeteria for a meal and then leaving, but Gu Xiaoxia didn't want to, saying that doing it this way now was like experiencing the feeling of living a life in advance.

Li Long naturally wouldn't refuse.

The two of them ate breakfast together. Gu Xiaoxia told Li Long to go first; it was still early, and it wouldn't be too late for her to tidy up and then go to work. Li Long harnessed the horse cart and led it out of the gate.

Nearly two hours later, Li Long led the horse cart to the Old Street. At this time, the sun had just appeared, and what surprised Li Long a bit was that there weren't many people on the Old Street.

Not only were there few people, but there weren't many stalls either, and there were no fish sellers, which made Li Long quite happy. Without competitors, the fish would definitely sell.

He found a relatively spacious spot at the intersection, spread out a plastic sheet, poured a bag of fish from the horse cart, laid them out on the plastic sheet, then took down the scale and placed it to the side, and finally placed a bundle of fodder he had brought from the back of the cart by Number 76's mouth, letting it eat grass and rest, while he himself started shouting there:

"Selling fish, selling fish! Large carp, large crucian carp, Wudaohai, fat big fish, selling fish! Selling fish..."

His shout added a touch of brightness to the Old Street, which had become somewhat gray-toned because of the hurried pedestrians and the stall owners huddled together from the cold.

Some pedestrians slowed their pace and looked in his direction.

Someone gathered around and asked:

"Young man, where did this fish come from? When was it frozen?"

"I won't speak in riddles. This fish was caught from Dahaizi more than ten days ago and was frozen as soon as it was caught. The fish is definitely fresh, and the price is cheap."

"Cheap? What price?" A person next to him asked immediately upon hearing it was cheap.

"Crucian carp, carp, and Wudaohai are all eight mao per kilogram." Li Long said, "Much cheaper than in summer."

"Yo, young man, did you sell fish here in the summer? I find you a bit familiar. Why isn't this fish gutted? Can it still be eaten if I take it back and process it?"

"Yes, of course it can. Fish is different from meat. If livestock isn't gutted and is frozen, the blood will enter the meat, and it will smell when thawed. If fish is gutted before freezing, the fish meat will be ruined; it needs something to support it..." Li Long explained.

"Fine, come weigh a carp for me, just this one." The old man speaking pointed to a large carp that was nearly three kilograms, with a red head and yellow tail.

Business has started. (End of chapter)